Muzzleloader, Archery Rules Unchanged

Idaho Fish and Game rules defining legal equipment for archery and muzzleloader hunts will remain the same for 2004. Meeting in Boise January 21-23, the Idaho Fish and Game Commission approved a department recommendation to leave muzzleloader and archery equipment rules as they are for at least this year. Some hunters asked the department to consider allowing the use of 209 shotgun primers in place of percussion caps for muzzleloading rifles and to allow the use of compound bows with an 80 percent let-off rather than the 65 percent maximum let-off currently in the rules. At the public hearing January 21, however, representatives of state organizations of bowhunters and muzzleloader hunters asked the Commission not to permit these rule changes.